


want you off my mind (and on me)

by k_yoong



Category: SuperM (Korea Band)
Genre: Age Swap, Alternate Universe - SM artists are not mistreated, Byun Baekhyun is an evil twink, M/M, Reverse AU - EXO are rookies and WayV are veterans, Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas is doing his best
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:18:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21771574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/k_yoong/pseuds/k_yoong
Summary: Lucas tries his very best to keep his mentor-mentee relationship with rookie idol Byun Baekhyun strictly platonic. Baekhyun tries his very best to do the opposite.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 76
Kudos: 206





	1. hopes up

**Author's Note:**

> exactly what it sounds like! veteran idol lucas & rookie idol baekhyun for no other reason than i thought it would be entertaining to think about
> 
> title is from H.E.R.'s every kind of way and every chapter will be titled a random song from her EP because i'm uncreative and it has like 21 songs on it and i'm hoping this isn't longer than that

His first encounter with Baekhyun isn’t particularly memorable. 

It’s customary for more senior artists at SM Entertainment to occasionally make the rounds and give inspirational speeches to the trainees. WayV’s five years into their debut, with five number one albums under their belts, so Lucas is just used to it by now. Lee Soo Man especially likes to parade them around like that. As if to say,  _ look at how successful they are  _ and  _ this could be you too, if you just give me three to seven more years of your life and lose ten more pounds _ . 

Lucas remembers being in their shoes, remembers looking at the members of Super Junior and SNSD when they would come around. He remembers they seemed untouchable, brighter than the sun. Too dazzling to look at. He could barely make eye contact with any of them back then. He wonders if maybe these trainees look at him like that too. Now, Heechul slaps his ass whenever he sees him, and he gets drinks with Taeyeon once a month. 

Yangyang fidgets next to him, uncomfortable, and Lucas pats his shoulder in sympathy. None of them enjoy doing this, but Yangyang dislikes it the most, and the atmosphere today seems particularly tense. Lucas isn’t sure why.

Kun, being the good leader (and generally good person) he is, delivers a very passionate speech about the importance of hard work, responsibility, and keeping your eye on the prize. Lucas has heard it about fifty times, sometimes even in the dorms when he accidentally leaves dishes unwashed in the sink, and he’s sure some of the trainees in here have heard it just as many times. They still give Kun their full attention, but Lucas is under no obligation to do so, and he finds himself zoning out instead. 

He recognizes all of them, though only a few stand out - Junmyeon is one of the older trainees, and has been with SM the longest out of any of them. There’s Yeri, barely a teenager, who was discovered when she was still just in elementary school. Chanyeol, who’s as tall as he is but about ten times ganglier. 

There’s only one person he doesn’t recognize, and it’s a boy, about half a foot shorter than him. He’s got kind of a droopy mouth, and his bowlcut doesn’t do him any favors, but they don’t detract from his overall cuteness. He reminds Lucas of a puppy, a little bit. 

He is also looking directly at him, eyes sparkling.

Lucas breaks eye contact in a hurry. Hendery is looking at him suspiciously, and leans over to whisper-ask him  _ who’s the new guy _ at him in Cantonese. Lucas shrugs. It’s unusual for SM to take new trainees in when they’re past high school, but definitely not unheard of. That’s not to say he isn’t curious, though. 

Kun wraps up with his impromptu speech, and everyone gives him light applause before they resume their normal activities. Lucas smiles politely and waves at everyone as they make their way toward the door, and is about to suggest they get hotpot for lunch (he always does) when he feels a small hand grab at the hem of his sweatshirt.

“LUCAS-SUNBAENIM,” the boy says, too loudly for someone who’s standing right next to him, still holding onto his sweater. “MY NAME IS BYUN BAEKHYUN AND I STARTED YESTERDAY. I ADMIRE YOU VERY MUCH. WAYV HAS BEEN VERY INSPIRATIONAL TO ME. IT IS AN HONOR TO TRAIN UNDER THE SAME COMPANY AS YOU.”

It’s an incredibly bold move, and it startles a real laugh out of him. “Well, Byun Baekhyun,” he starts, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe one day we’ll perform on the same stage too, once you make your debut.”

He says it without much thought, but Baekhyun beams, and Lucas fights the urge to break eye contact. It makes him feel he’s like a trainee again, looking at someone entirely too dazzling for their own good. Except he’s the idol, and Baekhyun is the trainee, and Lucas isn’t supposed to be the one feeling overwhelmed right now. He pushes the feeling down, even as he feels it rising into his chest.

“Then it’s a promise,” Baekhyun says quieter this time, suddenly serious. He holds his pinky out. “Just don’t look away from me when that time comes, sunbae.”

Lucas laughs again, still shocked at how  _ bold _ this trainee is, and hooks his pinky around Baekhyun’s. His hands are so, so small. “I won't. Promise.” 

Baekhyun lets him go after that, but not without shaking the hands of everyone else in WayV and telling them very seriously that he intends to work hard and do the best he can. 

Ten sidles up to him as they walk out of the building, like a predator stalking its prey. Planet Earth should do a special on him. Lucas would watch it. “He was cute.”

“Yeah. Cute.” Lucas hums, still thinking about the way Baekhyun had grabbed onto him, firm and unwavering.

“Your type, too.” He wraps an arm around Lucas’ shoulders, even though he has to reach up significantly to do it, which can’t be comfortable. Lucas slouches a little bit to accommodate him. By Lucas’ type, Ten just means he’s short, and had an ass on him. Not that Lucas was looking. Definitely not. That would be inappropriate.

Lucas thinks of the boy, young and baby-faced. “Just cute,” he insists. He’s thankful that Ten drops the subject after that.

He pushes the encounter out of his mind until 8 months later, when it’s officially announced that SM will be debuting a new boy group. WayV are in China to promote, so he doesn’t go to the debut showcase, but he and the guys do livestream it after their fansign, huddled around Ten’s iPad in his hotel room. 

“Hello,” a voice announces, familiar and bright even through the shitty quality of the stream. “I’m EXO’s Baekhyun.” It’s been barely a year since the first time they saw each other. Baekhyun’s no longer got the atrocious haircut, but he’s still cute as ever, and going off how loudly the audience screams when they see him, they clearly think the same. Lucas feels weirdly proud, even though he hardly knows him. He’s also still got a great ass on him, and when he jumps during the choreography in his tight white pants it fucking  _ jiggles _ and Lucas is really not sure what to do with that fucking information. 

He goes out a week later and buys EXO’s new album, just to be supportive. It’s only when he gets back to the dorms, in the safety of his own room, that he feels safe to open it. He leafs through the album, and when he picks up the photocard that falls out, it sends him into a laughing fit so shrill that Kun does a slow walk-by of his room, just to check on him.

Looking back at him on the photocard is Baekhyun, throwing up a peace sign with a smug grin that seems to say,  _ Look at me, I did it.  _ It feels like fate somehow.

_ Look at me _ . He promised Baekhyun, back in that practice room, that he wouldn’t look away from him when this time came. Lucas hasn’t ever stopped looking at him since that debut showcase, and he’s not sure he’ll ever be able to look away. He’s not sure he wants to.

In the picture Baekhyun’s smiling so hard his eyes squint into crescents, and newly-dyed brunette hair is permed. It makes him look even more puppy-like than when they’d first met, and Lucas tries again to ignore the way his heart squeezes if he looks at the photo for too long.

He slips it the photocard into his wallet after giving it another glance, and smiles dumbly to himself.

Yeah. Definitely cute.


	2. still down

His second encounter with Baekhyun is at SMTown in Tokyo, and cute is no longer the word Lucas would use to describe him.

WayV’s been busy with their North American tour, and EXO are wrapping up promotions for their first repackage album, so they still haven’t crossed paths for more than a couple minutes at a time yet. But he’s heard a lot about Baekhyun, in the six months since his debut. They call him the Genius Idol, both because he only trained for seven months and because he’s got the kind of raw all-around talent most idols work their entire lives for. He’s talented, point blank. Lucas watches clips of him sometimes, when he’s got the free time, so he knows this.

Seeing it firsthand is entirely different, though. Baekhyun is larger than life somehow, even in that ridiculously small body of his, even as a rookie, and he commands attention from everyone within a ten mile radius of him. He hits a high note, and Lucas watches with interest as the veins in his neck strain under the effort. 

_ That’s kind of hot,  _ Lucas thinks, and immediately dismisses the thought. Baekhyun is five years his junior, and just starting out in the industry. Lucas absolutely doesn’t think he’s sexy, not even a little bit, not even when he does that weird lip bite-y thing during interviews when people ask him questions and he’s not quite sure what to say, and definitely not when he’s all sweaty and out of breath and his cheeks are flushed after really intense performances. Especially not then. 

Next to him, Ten squirms, like he’s itching to say something. 

“Don’t say anything,” Lucas says without even looking, practically feeling the smugness roll off him in waves. He’s still staring at Baekhyun, unable and unwilling to look away. 

“Wasn’t going to,” Ten says gleefully. He’s enjoying this way too much. Lucas is suddenly very, extremely conscious of the skin tight pants the stylists had put him in for their earlier stage. “I just think it’s funny how–“ 

Thankfully, blessedly, before Ten can finish his sentence, the staff signals that the show is nearing its end, and they’re all ushered out quickly to the front of the stage. 

He bows to his seniors where appropriate, flashes a fansite a grin, waves across the stage to Junmyeon (Suho, now) and the rest of EXO where they’ve gathered. When he squints, he can’t seem to see Baekhyun, though he thinks he might just be hidden behind his taller members. Huh. Weird. 

When it comes time for the final bow, he feels a small hand pressed into his and he turns, expecting Winwin, or maybe Xiaojun.

Instead, it’s Baekhyun who smiles up at him politely, presses a little more closely to his side than is strictly necessary. It’s almost been a year since they last saw each other, really, and it’s taking him a little bit to reconcile Baekhyun As Seen In His Youtube Watch History with the Baekhyun, standing in front of him, right now. He’s glowing, face flushed with excitement, and Lucas thinks, inanely, that Baekhyun’s Light power (because of course Lee Soo Man would decide EXO’s concept had to be superpower related) is a little too fitting. It takes his breath away, just for a couple seconds, because seeing him like this is so different than through a computer screen, even in 1080p. Lucas isn’t sure if he can feel Baekhyun’s body heat through the thin fabric of their tshirts, or if that’s just wishful thinking. 

Baekhyun tangles their fingers together, and Lucas can feel himself flush red, which is ridiculous because he’s supposed to be a professional. Hand holding shouldn’t affect him this much. Except Baekhyun’s ring finger is the size of his pinky, and oh, isn’t that interesting? So interesting. Fascinating, even.

_ Calm down Yukhei _ , he thinks to himself, even as his palms grow sweaty.  _ You are sexy, and you were voted to be one of the Top 20 Most Eligible Bachelors In Asia. A twenty year old holding your hand is nothing. You are going to let go of his hand, go home, and maybe jerk off a little bit, and nothing else. _

Baekhyun chooses that moment to rub his thumb over the back of his hand, over his knuckles. 

_ Okay, scratch that, you’re going to go home and maybe jerk off a lot, and that’s alright too.  _

His palms start to sweat, and Minho, holding his other hand, looks at him with barely-concealed concern. Once he catches glimpse of Baekhyun, his expression becomes one of solemn understanding, and he nods at Lucas with sympathy in his eyes. Lucas is more than a little mortified. 

Thankfully, Baekhyun lets go of his hand to rejoin EXO a couple of feet away once they’re done. Lucas both mourns the loss and celebrates it. He doesn’t have long to ruminate on those very conflicting emotions because no less than five minutes later, after he’s waved to the audience one last time and ran backstage again, a familiar hand wraps around his wrist. Lucas feels the breath get knocked out of him as Baekhyun hauls him into a corner with a surprising amount of strength, and  _ wow _ he really needs to take some time to evaluate later why that turned him on a little bit.

“Hi, sunbae,” Baekhyun says sweetly, checking him out very unsubtly. His hand is still on Lucas’ wrist, even though his fingers aren’t even long enough to encircle it completely. Lucas wonders what type of lotion Baekhyun uses, or if he maybe exfoliates his hands, because they’re unnaturally soft. Kohl-lined eyes drag down his body, then back up to his face. He’s never seen Baekhyun wear eyeliner before. It suits him too well. Despite being fully clothed, Lucas suddenly feels the intense urge to cover himself up. 

“Hi,” Lucas whispers, tilting his head down to look at Baekhyun, who drops his wrist but steps impossibly closer to him somehow. This is the first time he’s gotten to take a proper look at him all night. His hair is platinum blond now, pushed back to reveal his forehead, and he looks otherworldly. Ethereal, almost. Even the light sheen of sweat covering him just makes him look like he’s shining. It’s unfair, really. Lucas is about 90 percent sure  _ he _ doesn’t look like that when  _ he’s _ sweaty. 

“Looks like you were right about us sharing a stage after all,” Baekhyun says, and rubs a small hand over Lucas’ bicep thoughtfully, like he’s evaluating. He must decide he likes what he’s feeling because he starts squeezing his fingers into the flesh there, and suddenly Lucas is very thankful he’s been consistent about working out lately, if it means rocking twinks like Baekhyun will feel him up backstage like this. 

“I’m glad,” Lucas manages to say. It takes a while, because he can’t stop fucking thinking about how fucking small Baekhyun is, and how effortless it would be to wrap his fingers around his wrist, or his thigh, or-- anyways. His hands hang uselessly at his sides, unsure. “I thought you were great, by the way.” 

From the corner of his eye, Lucas sees Ten staring at them like they’re zoo animals. Observational, and a little curious, but with the scientific detachment of someone who is collecting research on creatures they don’t entirely understand. Lucas tries to say to him, through aggressive eye contact, to please leave and look away from whatever is happening here _ . _ Unfortunately spending 24 hours a day together for several years doesn’t mean he’s got established mental links with all his bandmates, so Ten, thinking he needs reassurance, just gives him two very enthusiastic thumbs up, as if to say,  _ you’re doing great buddy, don’t worry about it, I’ll just be here watching _ . Great. 

“You mean just tonight?”

“No,” Lucas answers, before he can process the question fully. “Your performances are always great.”

Baekhyun beams again, and his smile is even brighter than Lucas remembers.

“Sunbae, you’ve watched our stages?” He sounds genuinely excited, and Lucas can’t bring himself to regret the slip up. 

Lucas shrugs in what he hopes is a casual but not-too-dismissive way. “Here and there, yeah. I always watch my juniors’ performances when I can. It’s like my duty as a mentor. I like EXO. I think you guys have a lot of potential. I think  _ you _ have a lot of potential.” 

A lie. He’s watched every single one of EXO’s performances, and every single time his eyes only follow the movements of one very specific vocalist. It’s like his brain is on constant Baekhyun-focus fancam mode, and he can’t turn it off. He would be a great fansite. Hendery makes fun of him for it, sometimes, but Lucas insists every time it’s for purely professional reasons, maybe platonic, and nothing more at all. Because that’s the truth, except for sometimes Baekhyun will do this thing where he looks right into the camera at the end of a performance, eyes all half-lidded and sultry, chest heaving as he pants to catch his breath, and Lucas will have to excuse himself to take a very cold shower. 

“A mentor, huh?” Baekhyun smiles, looks at him like he can see right through him. “If you ever want to discuss…  _ mentorship _ , then we should exchange numbers.”

Lucas has never heard the word mentorship sound so deeply suggestive coming out of anyone’s mouth. Before he can even reply, he feels a hand slipping into his back pocket. 

“Baekhyun,” he hisses out, eyes darting around nervously, not because he’s against it but because if they’re going to do this he would really rather it be somewhere private. “What are you doing?” There’s a supply closet about five feet away, and some of the dressing rooms are open, but they don’t lock from the inside, or maybe they could use his car because Lucas did drive here alone—

“Calm down, sunbae. You seemed like you were a little frozen, so I just decided to do this myself.” Baekhyun pulls Lucas’ phone out of his pocket, then dials his own number and hits call. “Now I have your number, too.”

“Oh.” Lucas coughs, suddenly very embarrassed. That’s more than enough to kill his boner. “Yes. Of course. That’s cool. Sick.”

Someone that sounds suspiciously like Mark yells “ _ No one says “sick” anymore, you old hag! _ ” in the background. 

“Wait a minute,” he blinks. “How did you unlock my phone?”

Baekhyun smiles at him, too innocent, and adds several heart emojis next to his new contact name in Lucas’ phone. “It’s not hard to guess, sunbae. 0117. The day WayV debuted. You’re kind of known for being a sap.”

“Hey,” Lucas protests weakly, even though he knows it’s true.

Ten looks thrilled by this series of events. Lucas thinks he’s only five minutes away from grabbing a bowl of popcorn and calling everyone in SM over to watch them. 

“It’s okay, I think it’s cute,” Baekhyun coos, and presses his phone back into his hand. “You might want to change it, though. Too obvious. You shouldn’t be letting other boys take your phone like this. It’s not safe.”

“Well you’re the only one who has, so far,” Lucas says, and Baekhyun’s smile grows smug, self-satisfied. 

“Good, let’s keep it that way,” he responds, hands lingering on Lucas’.

“I’m surprised you know the date we debuted, though,” Lucas says off-handedly. 

Baekhyun’s composure slips for just a second, but still enough for Lucas to see. “I told you I was a fan, didn’t I?”

“I remember. You were cute back then.” 

“Just back then?” Baekhyun juts his lower lip out a little bit, which is entirely unfair, leaning further into Lucas’ personal space. “Ouch.”

“No!” Lucas says in a rush, hands coming up defensively. “Of course I still think you’re cute, I mean obviously you’re cute, because you’re an idol, but I don’t mean that’s the only reason you’re cute, I’d still think you were cute even if you weren’t–“

“Calm down,” Baekhyun laughs, bright and loud. “I was just kidding. I know you think I’m cute. I do have to go now, though.” 

“Oh, okay.” He hopes that came out less disappointed than it sounded to himself. “Well. I’ll see you around? I have your number, now too.”

“Of course. Looking forward to it. See you around, sunbae,” Baekhyun practically purrs, and turns away. Baekhyun does not specify what  _ it  _ is. Lucas is afraid to ask. Afraid, but also just a little horny. 

Lucas watches him as he leaves, speechless. Baekhyun joins Chanyeol a short distance away and glances back over his shoulder, like he knows Lucas was maybe 0.1 seconds away from checking out his ass. It’s a nice ass, even better in person than it is in video or pictures, but Baekhyun is his junior and maybe-mentee, and Lucas does not see him like that, so it doesn’t matter.

He’s about to turn around and calculate the best way to leave while concealing his boner when he feels the breath get knocked out of him again, this time by Mark hurtling into his side.

“YEAH LUCAS, LET’SSSS GET IT!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finished my first final so uploading this as a celebration!! brain empty just baekhei!! 
> 
> also i'm considering opening a cc to take baekhei prompts over winter break so if that's something anyone would be interested in feel free 2 lmk otherwise just enjoy this!!


	3. wait for it

Baekhyun hasn’t texted. 

It’s been two weeks since Baekhyun had half groped him and exchanged numbers, and turned Lucas’ brain upside-down forever, and Baekhyun hasn’t texted.

Lucas isn’t upset. Really, he’s not. They’re both adults, and he has a busy schedule anyways. He’s just confused and would like some answers. He doesn’t have time to think about mixed signals from boys. Mixed platonic signals, that is. Platonic, even if all that’s between him and an unfortunate boner nowadays is a quick Byun Baekhyun EXO Hand search on Naver.

“What are you doing?” Ten peers over his shoulder curiously and Lucas quickly moves to slam his laptop shut. That’s a dangerous game given that Lucas is cheap, his Macbook is six years old, and Apple products aren’t built to last, but Ten is ruthless and Lucas considers this to be a calculated risk. It unfortunately doesn’t pay off, because Ten darts a quick little hand out to stop Lucas before his screen actually goes down. Fuck. Fuck Ten, and fuck his slimy little fox hands.

“Nothing,” says Lucas, giving Ten his nicest Good Boy smile. 

The side-eye Ten gives him is so intense Lucas shrinks back a little. “I’m not doing anything!” He insists uselessly, sounding unconvincing even to his own ears. He should’ve known better than to do this in the living room, except the router is here and the signal is too weak in his room because SM apparently really cheaped out on their wifi plan, and he really needs the internet for this, and he doesn’t have unlimited data on his phone. 

“Show me now,” Ten says, reaching out again, and Lucas dodges, which results in a five minute altercation that Lucas would describe as Dignified, and Yangyang would describe as A Bitchfight. 

“ _ What does it mean if a guy feels you up a little bit and asks for your number but then doesn’t text you for 2 weeks by the way the guy is like, really pretty, and I like him in an age-appropriate mentor way, and also we’re both really busy so it could just be that but yeah anyways what does it mean? _ ” Ten reads off the laptop screen once he’s managed to best Lucas. “Jesus christ, Yukhei.”

“What?” Lucas asks weakly, still out of breath from their (bitchfight) altercation. Damn. He might be getting old. 

“Naver search is not going to give you the answers you want,” Ten says, and ruffles his hair. “Big baby.”

“Hey,” Lucas says, indignant.

“Stupid big baby,” Ten smiles indulgently at him, and pinches his cheek, despite the fact that there’s no fat there to pinch anyways so he’s really just digging his nails into bone. Lucas swats his hand away uselessly. “Why don’t you text him first?”

It would be a valid suggestion, except Lucas has been trying to do Exactly That for the better part of the last 48 hours or so, and every time he hovers over Baekhyun’s contact in his phone (Byun Baekhyun of EXO, because Lucas is a professional like that, but he couldn’t bring himself to get rid of the cute emojis Baekhyun had added), his mind blanks. 

“I don’t know how young people text anymore,” he groans, and slides down on the couch, slouching. “What if I use too many emojis? Or not enough emojis? What if he thinks I sound stupid? What if I’m too formal and he laughs because I’m old and lame and leaks our texts to Dispatch and shows everyone in EXO and I never get schedules again?”

Ten pushes him back into place to make space for himself to sit down, ignoring Lucas’ weak protests. “First of all,” he starts, opening his phone. Lucas thinks he might be facetuning a selfie. “You can’t be old and lame. Because I’m two years older than you, so that would make me older and lamer than you, which is clearly not the case.”

“Thank you, very reassuring,” Lucas grumbles. “That really helps.”

“You act like you’ve never texted a boy before,” Ten finally puts his phone down and looks at him, puzzled. Lucas rarely ever sasses him, so this must be a startling experience for him. He makes a mental note to fight back more often. 

The thing is, Byun Baekhyun is not just a boy. Byun Baekhyun is incredible and absurdly talented and even more absurdly beautiful and Lucas is positive his impact on the music industry is going to be written about in textbooks in a couple of years. Except if he said any of that, Ten would probably get it into his head that Lucas was harboring a crush on Baekhyun, which was definitely, absolutely not the case.

“I just don’t want to mess up and ruin my chances with him,” Lucas says, instead of trying to explain. “As a mentor. Ruin my chances to mentor him.”

“Is that what they’re calling it now? Mentoring?” Ten pats Lucas’ shoulder absentmindedly. “The kid looked like he was about two minutes away from getting on his knees and begging to suck the skin off your dick. I wouldn’t worry about messing up.”

Lucas flushes bright red and stands up so quickly his head spins. It doesn’t help that the thought of Baekhyun on his knees is making all the blood in his body rush to his dick expeditiously. “I meant as a mentor, really, you know that!”

“You should send him a dick pic,” Yangyang hollers from the kitchen unhelpfully, from where he’s been listening in. Ten echoes his agreement, and goes back to facetuning.

“You guys are all the fucking worst, I would never send a picture of my dick without consent I respect my partners too much for that not that Baekhyun is a partner he’s just a very cute junior who I think has a lot of potential not that I wouldn’t  _ ever  _ date him it’s just that–”

“As fun as watching you have your little gay crisis is, aren’t you late for something?” Ten asks, not even looking up from his phone.

A quick glance at his phone shows it’s 5 minutes past his agreed meeting time with Taeyeon for their monthly drinking session and he cuts off abruptly, panic settling in. 

Ten looks at him knowingly. “Taeyeon is going to kill you.”

It’s true. Taeyeon is cute, and small, and in many ways she was like a mentor to Lucas when he first started at SM, but she also does not enjoy being kept waiting.  _ Drinking time is sacred, _ she always says,  _ and should be treated as such.  _

“I know, I know,” Lucas says, rushing to put on his obligatory Idol In Disguise accessories (baseball cap and face mask) and speed walking to the front door. “If I die, you can have all my lube. And please clear my internet search history.”

Ten nods solemnly, then salutes him. “Fly high, angel.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finals r over here is a very tiny very short update 2 celebrate!!


	4. lights on

Taeyeon is, surprisingly, in a great mood when Lucas arrives to their usual bar over half an hour late. It’s a hole in the wall pub, somewhere they’ve been going since their predebut days, with cheap drinks and cheaper food. More importantly, the staff here can be trusted to be discreet, which is a relief because he and Taeyeon have both had their share of messy nights here.

“Oh. Didn’t even notice you weren’t here,” Taeyeon hiccups when he sits down, and takes a sip of what appears to be her second beer. That’s not a good sign. She’s usually passed out by the third or fourth.

“Ouch,” Lucas laughs. “Having a good time drinking by yourself?”

“She’s not by herself,” someone chimes in. Lucas looks up, even though he knows who it is already, because he’s heard that voice echoing around his very empty head for the past consecutive three hundred and thirty six hours. “She was helping me with my vocal lessons and asked if I wanted to come drinking with you guys, hope you don’t mind.”

Oh my god. Yeah. Lucas minds. Lucas minds very much because Baekhyun is currently standing above him looking just as beautiful as he remembers and he’s wearing an oversized sweater with a wide v-neck that’s currently exposing more collarbone than is strictly necessary, and if he leans over any more Lucas thinks he might collapse. He can’t say any of that, though, so all he manages is a very coherent “grmfbdsff.”

Baekhyun sits down next to him and offers him a beer, already nursing his own. Lucas takes it, gratefully, and downs half immediately. Fuck. He’s so fucking thirsty. Not in that way. In the physical, throat dry, dehydrated way. Except Lucas is suddenly noting that Baekhyun is close enough that he can count all the individual moles on his face including the very cute one on his upper lip and okay, maybe he’s also thirsty in that other also physical less appropriate way, because he’s suddenly wondering what kind of noises Baekhyun might make if he leaned over and kissed it. 

“No, I don’t mind at all,” he coughs, trying to sound nonchalant. As if Baekhyun hasn’t haunted Lucas’ thoughts night and day for the past two weeks. “It’s nice to see you again, Baekhyun.”

“Same to you, sunbae,” Baekhyun smiles, face flushed prettily, and leans into his side. It’s evident that he’s a little bit tipsy already too, though not as far gone as Taeyeon is, if the way she’s starting to slump down in her seat is any indication. 

When he’s onstage, Baekhyun is all confident movements and sharp smiles, but like this, curled into Lucas’ side, he seems like an entirely different person altogether. His face is bare of makeup but his cheeks are bright and rosy, and when he looks up at Lucas through long eyelashes, it’s hard to imagine him as Byun Baekhyun, main vocalist of EXO. 

Taeyeon stares at them intently, like she wants to say something, but decides against it. Lucas is thankful. 

It takes Lucas two beers to relax, and thankfully Taeyeon’s coherent enough to participate in the conversation to distract Lucas from feeling like he’s about to collapse every time Baekhyun looks at him, smiling so hard his eyes squint into those little crescents. 

Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be anything that can be done about his physical discomfort, because Baekhyun is doing that thing where he Exists in Lucas’ General Vicinity, and it’s very distracting and also sexy. Lucas is fortunately (or unfortunately) getting extremely good at functioning in social situations while lowkey horny now, so he just hopes no one looks at his lap too hard and continues focusing on the important things, like how Baekhyun is just casually rubbing a tiny hand up and down his upper leg. 

His hand is so small. Everything about Baekhyun is small, and Lucas isn’t sure why that thought is always at the forefront of his mind, somehow, but with Baekhyun pressed against him like this it’s not only an impossible thought to ignore, it’s the only thought currently running through his head. No thoughts, head empty, just Baekhyun small. He wonders if he could fit his entire hand around Baekhyun’s thigh, and just as he’s about to unsubtly ask Baekhyun if he’s ever measured the circumference of his leg before, Baekhyun absentmindedly slips his stupid tiny hand into one of the rips in Lucas’ jeans, above the knee, and suddenly the part of his brain that controls speech, and maybe also breathing, completely shuts down. 

“You’re being quiet today, Lucas.” Taeyeon leers at him from over her drink, and Baekhyun stares at him curiously, like his hand isn’t still rubbing at the bare skin of Lucas’ thigh from under the fabric of his jeans. “Care to share with the class?”

Lucas chokes on his drink and immediately begins wheezing, and his coughing only gets worse when Baekhyun takes his little hand and rubs it over his back in what should be a soothing way, but ends up having the opposite effect because Lucas is incapable of being composed around him, apparently. “No,” he says weakly. “Just thinking. I’m not really sure what you guys are talking about anyways.” 

That part is true, because Baekhyun and Taeyeon have been giggling together and whispering across the table to one another all night, and Lucas has been too focused on keeping his dick down to try and make the effort to make out what they might be saying. He should probably be more concerned about that, but he’s got a little bit of a one track mind and right now the priority is not making a fool of himself. 

“Taeyeon tells me you haven’t mentored anyone before,” Baekhyun says once Lucas has stopped coughing, and drops his hand down to rub his thumb over the back of Lucas’ hand, in the same infuriatingly distracting way he did two weeks ago. Lucas really, really hates that he remembers that moment with such vivid clarity, but he’s not sure he’s capable of any less when it comes to Baekhyun. “Should I be honored that I’m going to be the first, or scared?”

Fucking Taeyeon. It’s like everyone in SM Entertainment is in on this whole Lucas Has Feelings For Baekhyun Conspiracy, which is feeling like less of a conspiracy with every minute he spends around Baekhyun, but he would really prefer this to be a private thing because he’s still very much confused about how appropriate this entire situation is or isn’t, and Baekhyun might just be really, really friendly, even if Lucas can’t stop thinking about what Ten said re:Baekhyun sucking the skin off his dick, and he doesn’t want to make assumptions. Plus, he kind of feels like he’s about 3 unfortunate Baekhyun encounters away from Lee Soo Man calling him into his office to give him the sex talk, or something equally disastrous. He’s traumatized just thinking about it.

“I don’t know about either of those,” Lucas says once he’s had enough time to properly construct a sentence word-by-word in his head, like a toddler would. “But I’ll do my best, even if I don’t quite know where to start. I’m not sure I have much to teach you at all, really.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle with you. I’m sure I could learn a lot from you since you’re so… experienced.” Baekhyun smiles, and wow suddenly Lucas’ pants feel a lot tighter than they should. All he can do is stutter out a thanks, and wonder if Taeyeon is going to remember literally any of this in the morning. He really hopes not. 

Baekhyun leans over to laugh at a very unfunny Taeyeon joke, and his sweater slips off his shoulder. Lucas helpfully pulls it back up for him after allowing himself to stare for a little while  _ (just 5 seconds, no 10, no maybe 15) _ , and wonders when he became such a prude that the sight of a man’s bare shoulder started being enough to send him into a frenzy. 

“Thank you, sunbae,” Baekhyun says sweetly, and for some reason the word  _ sunbae _ is going straight to Lucas’ dick right now. 

“You can just call me hyung,” he says, hoping that’ll sound less alluring leaving Baekhyun’s mouth than sunbae does, and grabs his jacket from the side to drape over his lap.

_ Great job Lucas! You’re doing great! Very subtle! Soon Taeyeon will pass out on the table like she always does and you’ll be able to call her a cab and go home, and cry in the shower while you think about the evil twink who’s currently halfway in your lap! _

Baekhyun smiles even wider, like that’s physically possible, and curls his arm around Lucas’ bicep. He’s either really clingy, or just really has a thing for arms, but either way Lucas is not complaining. 

_ "Hyung," _ Baekhyun says slowly, like he’s testing the waters, and the tone of his voice is honey sweet and dangerously low, and  _ fuck fuck fuck _ that’s even worse somehow Lucas fucked up so bad. “Okay, then.”

_ Platonic, _ he tries to remind himself.  _ You have very platonic feelings for this very talented artist working under the same label as you, and you are getting drinks as colleagues. Even if all the blood in your head is currently in your dick you are capable of not behaving like an animal. Just because Ten always says you’re like a dog that doesn’t mean you have to start barking like one too.  _

“Yeah, that’s me,” Lucas laughs nervously, because he doesn’t know what else to do, and maybe if he just laughs enough Baekhyun will laugh too and they can pass this entire night off as a very funny figment of their collective imagination rather than the tense, sexually charged outing it really is.

“I’m Taeyeon,” Taeyeon announces, suddenly, and slumps over in her seat.

Baekhyun looks at her with concern, but Lucas is already used to this by now, so he just pulls out his phone, typing in her Manager’s number from memory to ask him to come pick her up. They really do this too often. “Is she going to be okay?” Baekhyun asks nervously. He leans over and pokes at her a little bit, and she immediately falls sideways.

“She’ll be fine,” Lucas mumbles, not feeling all that sober himself. “It’s pretty impressive she lasted more than an hour already. Sorry it kind of means we’re cutting this short, though.”

“Oh,” Baekhyun says, looking a little disappointed just for a second before he plasters his perfect-idol smile back on his face. Lucas thinks his real smile is prettier. “That’s okay! As long as noona gets home safe.”

“What about you?” Lucas asks, eyeing the flush on Baekhyun’s face. He doesn’t  _ seem _ too drunk, but maybe he’s just good at hiding it. “Do you think you can get back to your dorms alright?”

Baekhyun bites at the tip of his thumb. It’s probably just a nervous habit, but Lucas maybe stares a little bit harder than necessary anyways. “My manager doesn’t really know I’m out,” he says after a couple of seconds. “But I could probably get a cab home? Or just take the subway.”

“What? I’m not letting you do that, that’s not safe,” Lucas says, affronted. What kind of mentor would he be if he let that happen? He’s partially responsible for Baekhyun, in a way, and the thought of him stumbling through the streets at Seoul late at night, vulnerable to creeps or paparazzi he may not know how to avoid is making his stomach twist (an exaggeration, maybe, since they’re both barely more than tipsy). Dispatch would probably have a field day with it. There’s only one solution here, clearly. “Just come back to the WayV dorms with me. You can have my bed, I’ll take the couch.”

“Are you sure?” Baekhyun asks, looking up at him with wide eyes. “I mean, I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.”

Lucas pats his head in what he hopes is a Reassuring and Very Mentor-ly way. “It’s not an inconvenience at all,” he insists. “I’ll drive you back to your dorm in the morning, so don’t worry about it, okay?”

“Okay,” Baekhyun says, beaming at him with his signature too-bright smile. “Thanks, hyung.”

He tries not to think about how the other members might react to seeing Baekhyun tomorrow morning. There’s almost a one hundred percent chance Ten or Yangyang will try to embarrass him, but if he’s really lucky Kun will shame them into behaving at least while there’s a guest in the apartment. It doesn’t matter, anyways, because Baekhyun is happy and Lucas is drunk, but also happy, and he is doing fucking great at this mentoring shit. The thought of Baekhyun, in his room, in his bed, maybe even wearing his clothes,  _ is _ making him a little nervous. But it’s just one night. How bad could it actually be?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah i don't really have an excuse for not updating this for 7 months but it was bothering me that there were a bunch of fics in the baekhei tag where lucas was just the side piece so here we are... sorry if u were waiting for this but thank u everyone whos been letting me know they missed this fic !! i'll try to keep up with this a bit better since these chapters tend to be shorter

**Author's Note:**

> me: i am going to fill this baekhei tag up even if i have to do it all by myself
> 
> everyone: haha lol she's kidding right
> 
> me: :)
> 
> i have a few short chapters of this prewritten i'll be uploading over the next few weeks since i don't have much time to write but i want to keep this tag fun and fresh! haven't decided if superm ever becomes a thing in this universe i'll cross that bridge when i come to it i'm just vibing


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